The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) are strategizing to boost their appeal among young people following Jan. 13’s presidential and legislative elections, which saw many young voters favoring the Taiwan People’s Party presidential candidate.
The DPP’s overall campaign strategy leading up to the elections was criticized as old-fashioned and ignoring communication with young people.
Some DPP members believed that some of the young voters who used to support the DPP shifted to TPP presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who created a large group of young supporters dubbed “little grass” (小草).
Photo: CNA
Many foreign guests who visited the DPP last year wondered why young people switched support from the DPP to the TPP, DPP Youth Director Juan Chun-ta (阮俊達) said.
Those who voted for the first time last month were born between 2000 and 2004, and alternating between parties is viewed as common, he said.
Young people tend to be optimistic and believe that democracy would not regress and there would be no election-meddling, so painting the elections as a choice between democracy and authoritarianism was often ignored, he said.
Young people are anti-system and anti-authority, and hate being lectured by elders, whereas Ko’s language appealed to them, he said.
The issues they are concerned about are work, rent and road rights for motorcyclists, while the DPP focused on defending Taiwan against China and cognitive warfare, he said.
The DPP should address the worries, anxieties and hopes of young people in ways that touch them, which the party is still figuring out, he said.
Some party members also questioned whether young voters were the only group in which it lost support.
The DPP should maintain communication with all Taiwanese, including the middle class, citizen groups and social movement groups, they said.
Wang Yi-chuan (王義川), incoming director of the DPP’s Policy Research and Coordinating Committee, said that the party would use diverse methods to get in touch with various groups to better understand their needs and adjust policies accordingly.
Chan Ho-shun (詹賀舜), incoming director of the DPP’s Center for New Media, said that the party should focus on producing content that is easy to understand and appeal to social media users, who would then help share and spread the message.
Meanwhile, the KMT would strive to provide stages for young people, nominate more young candidates in representative elections, adopt more progressive values and manage new media, KMT spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智?) said.
Mobilizing the support of young people — with the KMT lagging far behind the DPP and the TPP in the elections — is a key issue.
It is important to make young people feel that they would have opportunities and a future after joining the KMT, including the opportunity to serve as party cadres and participate in the party’s decisionmaking process, Yang said.
Appointing young Taoyuan City Councilor Ling Tao (凌濤) and Legislator Hung Mong-kai (洪孟楷) to lead the KMT’s Culture and Communications Committee was a good example that the party will continue to follow, she said.
The KMT nominated 15 candidates under the age of 40 in the legislative elections, 10 of whom won, she said, adding that the party is to recruit more young candidates to join the local elections in 2026.
Many perceive the KMT as old-school and conservative, an image that should be broken by the creativity shown in the party’s clothing, visual design and the appearance of the headquarters, she said.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) takes cultivating young people seriously, calling on elders to take a step back and provide political stages for young people, party members said.
The current establishment of the party might not be able to cover all the online media platforms, so resource allocation should be carefully thought out, they said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to